As far as the 911 charge, they say they are passing them on and not profiting from them. The problem is that you don't know what the charge is. They link you to an amount, but you don't know if it's monthly or yearly or for the remainder of your yearly service.

That's exactly my thoughts on that $10/year extra charge for your previously ported number... theft. Yes, it's fair to charge a one-time fee for porting, but not after that.

As for the 911 charge, I'll admit it's probably a legit expense they will be incurring and passing along to customers. I don't know of any additional tax added on that's a nice round even number like $2.00 or $12.00 though. I've no doubt there will be change left over from each fee collected that MagicJack will be keeping. And to set up a payment system where you provide your credit card info to be billed an undetermined amount is totally unacceptable on all levels. They could have a page where you enter your zipcode and get the fees for your area before blindly trusting them with your credit card.

Anyone who trusts that MagicJack will bill you only the appropriate amount for your area and not a penny more is being very naive in regard to MJ's business practices.

Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2013 3:22 pm Post subject: MJ is doing this the right way

OMG what a bunch of curmudgeons we seem to have here LOL. It's amazing that MJ succeeded in fending off local governments over this issue for this long.

Unlike MJ, almost ALL telecoms do not give you the option of "opting out" of 911 service, and most of them do NOT tell you in advance how much your 911 fee will be - that fee is set by your local government (just check with your local government to get the info), and ALL of it goes to pay for your local 911 service operations. In my area the fee is only $0.50/month, and that is exactly what MJ indicated it would be for me ($6/year).

In most areas the actual cost to localities to run their 911 service is about $1-$1.50/month per subscriber line; if they charge you less the difference is being made up from other local taxes. One way or another the cost is funded.

If you decide to "opt out" don't forget that 911 doesn't link with just local police service but also fire and EMS as well. If you're going to rely on cellular 911 access, consider how well and reliable your cellular service reception is at your home - and that if you'll be accessing it via an "unconnected" cell phone, your exact location data will most likely NOT be transmitted along with the audio call so you'll need to be sure to state it during the emergency phone call.

BTW - OOMA charges on a monthly basis for ALL potentially relevant local, state and federal taxes and fees, not just the local 911 fees... including their OWN service fee to cover the cost of collecting and distributing government taxes and fees._________________Using a "standard" magicJack, an "original" magicJack Plus, and the magicJack iOS app on an iPod Touch and iPhone

In order to clear up certain things :
Most VOIP providers either do not provide 911 service at all or charge a monthly fee of up to $ 1.50/month for e911 service. This fee is not a local tax.
Which means that they may have to charge the 911 tax ADDITIONALLY to this e911 fee . However, most VOIP providers let you opt out of any 911 charges if you claim a non US/CAN address.
So, in this particular case, very exceptionally, Magic Jack is NOT to blame.
I would recommend to drop the 911 service through MJ. MJ is way to unreliable for that. You cell phone is probably much better, as long as you have coverage, although only few cities/counties are able to determine your location on a cell.
If you absolutely need 911 service at home other than cell phone try Callcentric with it's free NYC DID and their $ 1.50/month e911 charge. You may actually discover a better VOIP providers this way.
_________________Using Localphone, Callcentric and Callwithus with Obi 202 adapter.

The sad thing is, nobody got notified prior to Dan disabling E911. At least I didn't. We should have expected at least a standard two weeks notice before a major change in policy like this. This is just poor business practice. I smell a lawsuit in the making from people who thought they had e911 and no longer have it._________________MJCheck - http://mjcheck.low.li

If you still have your outside phone line coming into your house from your previous provider, your 911 service may still work. Mine does. You can also use an old cell phone that no longer is connected with a provider. I will be using my cell phone._________________Using a standard MagicJack, a MagicJack Plus, and Google Voice with the GVJackApp.
MagicJack user since 2008.

I had previously selected the now missing "e911 opt-out" feature when they made the initial announcement on 8/21. But I just got this email today (8/30)

Quote:

Dear customer:

Last week, magicJack began sending customers bills and/or notices covering the fees that certain emergency communications districts charge for your being able to dial 911. These emergency communications districts have required magicJack to send these bills, but these are not magicJack's charges. magicJack does not profit at all for providing access to 911 services, and the funds we collect are turned over to the government authority pursuant to their requirements.

magicJack continues to provide 911 calling capability for all of its customers who provided a valid local address in the United States for 911 purposes.

I don't think any phone provider is legally allowed to let people opt out of e911 (you either offer it, or you don't). So it looks like they turned e911 back on for all customers and removed the opt-out feature

But now the bad news.... the way I read this, it appears they're going to try and bill everybody for e911 fees.

Not that I was necessarily opposed paying for e911... but after getting hit with all their hidden charges (ported number charge) and the inability to even tell me what the e911 fees are going to be (which other VOIP providers can provide), I'm not sticking around. I can't stand the way they're running the business... which is too bad because I actually think the service is OK.

Ok, now i'm really confused. After receiving the latest magic jack email I restarted my magic jack this morning just out of curiosity and for the first time EVER, instead of coming up yellow the 911 bubble came up green and I have NOT paid them and NOT optioned out. I have had this magic jack for over 2 years and it has never been green, always yellow. ????

I have a couple of original magicJacks running on thin clients and after a re-boot this morning, noticed that 911 service was restored. I have them both on a 5-year pre-paid service plan. I suspect they discovered the legalities involved in shutting down previously enabled 911 service. I've not received any sort of email invoice for 911 and wouldn't pay it if they do send one. My bet is that they'll have to provide it at no cost to existing and pre-paid customers, and will only be able to (legally) charge for it upon renewal of existing service, or for service to new customers.

My AT&T land line ran me about $40 a month.
I figure MagicJack has saved me over $2,000 in the past 5 years.
With that in mind, I don't have a problem being charged an e911 fee, especially if it's just a pass-through, recovery fee.

My issue with this is that I'm disabled on a low, fixed income. I make $710/month on SSI and that's it! That's the whole reason I use MagicJack is because I can't afford regular service. And I absolutely cannot afford a sudden, extra charge as it will send my bank account negative. I don't know what to do about this if they aren't going to allow me to opt out. I'm scared and frustrated. =(_________________"Your phone service can beat up my phone service. *sigh*"

Anjalena - No worries. At least at this point in time everybody gets e911 service from MJ whether or not they volunteered to pay the local fee. Just be sure to DELETE whatever debit or credit card you might have on file within your MJ account online just to make sure. But given the nature of your situation, at least if you're in the US you should apply for free, lifeline cellular phone service._________________Using a "standard" magicJack, an "original" magicJack Plus, and the magicJack iOS app on an iPod Touch and iPhone